


A trip to the zoo

by Numbuh_7



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Gen, Young Justice Secret Santa, Zoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 03:46:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13138413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Numbuh_7/pseuds/Numbuh_7
Summary: M'gann and Garfield visit the metropolis zoo for a holiday petting zoo. A secret Santa gift for Whatever-Baywatch on Tumblr. "Family time with Garfield and M'gann"





	A trip to the zoo

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Whatever-Baywatch](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Whatever-Baywatch).



> I wrote this for Whatever-Baywatch on Tumblr as part of the Young Justice Secret Santa. Merry Christmas, I'm sorry it took so long.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice, I only wrote this for fun and will receive no compensation for it.
> 
> Takes place in December of 2016, Wally came back months ago, everything is fine, and the team is still working out of the watchtower. I left whether Miss M and Conner got back together up to interpretation

M’gann was at a cafe with Zatanna when she saw it. Neither of them had missions or patrol to do that day, so they decided to get together and go out for coffee.

“Hey Megan, come look at this!” Zatanna called out to M’gann from the counter where she was ordering their drinks.

M’gann walked over “Yes?” She looked at the magician curiously. She then looked down and saw it on the counter: it was a flier with the words “Holiday Petting Zoo” and photos of a reindeer, a camel, and some goats wearing elf hats.

“The Metropolis Zoo is holding a petting zoo for the holidays, maybe you’d want to take Gar to it.” Zatanna said with a smile before adding “I could probably whip up a glamour charm to help him blend in.”

“That sounds great, I’ll ask him… actually I might ask Bart too, now that I think about it, I don’t think he’s ever been to the zoo before.”

“Artemis and Wally might want to go with you, that way they can keep an eye on Bart, so you and Gar could enjoy yourselves. You should ask them”

M’gann smiled and agreed.

* * *

Later that day when she got back to the watchtower she found Garfield playing video games in the lounge room that the team had been using since they started operating out of the watchtower.

“Hey Sis! How was coffee with Zatanna?” Garfield asked with a grin, pausing the game he was playing to talk to her.

“It was good. Actually there was something I wanted to talk to you about.”

At this Gar looked a little nervous, so M’gann quickly said “Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad. I just saw this flier at the cafe and was wondering if you wanted to go?”

M’gann handed the flier to Garfield, who held the flier as he read it, then looked up at her. “I guess so, but I’m not sure how we’ll hide my green skin… I could wear a hat and long sleeves.”

“Actually Zatanna said that she can make you a glamour charm for that.”

“Really, that’s great!” 

* * *

A week later they were at the gates to the zoo, along with Artemis, Wally, and Bart who had indeed agreed to tag along so that Bart could experience the Zoo for the first time.

M’gann had shapeshifted into her usual disguise as “Megan Morse” and Garfield was now wearing a glamour charm disguised as a pin on his shirt, which altered his coloring match how he looked before he became a metahuman. It also hid his more animalistic traits.

The 5 of them approached the ticket booth, M’gann and Garfield going first, getting tickets for both the regular Zoo and the holiday petting zoo, while Artemis, Wally, and Bart simply bought tickets for the regular zoo, as Bart was still getting the hang of “past holidays” and wanted to spend more time looking at the many animals that were extinct in his timeline.

“So Gar, what do you want to do first? Do you want to go straight to the petting zoo first, or go look at the animals in the main zoo and see the petting zoo later?” M’gann asked, looking down at her adoptive brother curiously.

“Well I guess I can look at some of the animals on the way to the petting zoo, but we need to stop by the tigers at some point, I kinda promised Billy I’d take photos of him, he _really_ likes Tigers.” Garfield answered.

“I think we’re going to the food stands first, then we’ll probably go look at whatever Bart wants to see… call us if you need anything.” Artemis said, it going unsaid that “call us” meant “contact us with the mind link.”

“Ok, come on Gar, let’s go. See you guys later, have a good time.”

* * *

 

M’gann and Garfield walked through the zoo, headed towards where the zoo directory said that the petting zoo was. They occasionally stopped by a particular exhibit when something interested them.

They had stopped at the lion exhibit and M’gann had gotten distracted watching a mother lion and her cubs when M’gann suddenly felt Garfield get really excited and noticed that he was no longer at her side. She looked around and found him in front of a monkey exhibit. A zoo keeper was standing in front of the exhibit holding a single monkey as she spoke to visitors to the zoo. Garfield was (naturally) standing next to her hopping up and down, very excited to see the monkeys.

“This is a callithrix monkey, also known as the green monkey, which is native to parts of Africa, I’d be happy to answer any questions. You, perhaps?” She asked, looking at Garfield in amusement.

It seemed to take Garfield a moment to realize she was speaking to him, and when he noticed he grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head as he answered “Oh! Not really… I actually grew up around green monkeys. I was raised on an animal sanctuary for most of my life, and helped my mom take care of sick and injured animals. Actually I even had one green monkey I helped raise from a baby after it was orphaned, and since then it always followed me around when I was a kid, I actually named him monkey” here he laughed awkwardly. “I lived there until… um, until I had to come back to the states with my older sister a few years ago.” Here he motioned to M’gann awkwardly.

“Oh! I bet you know some interesting things about callithrix monkeys, having been around them so much, have anything you’d like to share?” The zookeeper looked taken aback by the information that the kid she assumed just really liked animals, in fact probably had more first hand experience with animals than most adults, nevermind most kids. She also was curious what traits someone would notice having spent to much time around different animals.

“Huh… well, in some parts of Africa, callithrix monkeys living close to deposits of green kryptonite get Irradiated by it, which weirdly enough gives them immunity to the Sakutia virus, a deadly virus that kills any animals that gets it, other that the green monkey, that is. One of my mom’s friends ran an animal sanctuary once, where most of the animals died from it, the only reason any of them survived is that someone recognized the symptoms and and managed to free the animals that hadn’t been exposed… the rest had to be quarantined and eventually killed and then a hazard team from the center for infectious diseases had to come in and clean the place up.” 

Gar looked down, secretly remembering how only a year after he first met M’gann, Monkey left sanctuary for a few weeks, only to come back after his mother had been killed carrying the Sakutia virus which infected a few of the animals there before they could be quarantined. Without anyone watching the animals it was too late when monkey entered Gar’s room through an open window as he was packing, grieving and waiting for M’gann, the closest thing he had left to family, to come get him. Garfield was so relieved to see the creature that he hugged it, but didn’t realize that it was carrying the virus, and only realized something was wrong when he fainted. If not for the Martian blood running through his veins from that had already saved his life once, he would have died. However the blood transfusion from his adoptive sister months earlier had given his body the inactive potential for shapeshifting, which was combined with his own inactive metagene had worked to save him, he unconsciously transformed into a green monkey, and stayed in a coma for a few days as his body fought the virus off. M’gann showed up and found him that way, and she called the justice League, who were unable to do anything other than move him to a secure location in quarantine and hope he survived. The first thing he noticed when he woke up was his sister, the second was his green skin.

M’gann must have sensed what he was thinking about, since she put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, using the mind link to communicate. **_‘You ok, Gar? I know it hurts to think about what happened with Monkey, especially since it happened so soon after your mom…’_**  

Garfield looked at her and smiled, wiping a tear out of his eye as he answered back aloud. “I’m okay sis, I just miss home”.

By now the Zookeeper looked awkward, obviously having expected something like their favorite foods or mating habits, not something as out there as a little known virus that kills anything it touches save a single species of monkey. “That’s um, very interesting. It is truth that the callithrix monkey is the only species immune to the rare Sakutia virus, however thankfully that virus is very rare and controlled today, leading to hardly any outbreaks of it. As a matter of fact the last time there was an outbreak was a few years ago in Qurac, which nearly destroyed the animal sanctuary founded by former star Marie Logan who-” at this point M’gann grabbed Garfield’s arm and started leading him away.

“Sorry Gar, but I didn’t think you needed to hear that, how about we stop by the food stands for some ice cream, and then we’ll go see the petting zoo, maybe that will cheer you up.” M’gann led Gar away from the green monkey exhibit, keeping her arm around him in a comforting manner.

They soon reached the food stands, where Garfield sat on a bench as his sister went up to a stand, coming back with not ice cream, but instead two hot chocolates. She handed him one and explained “Sorry Gar they didn’t have any ice cream, but I got hot chocolate instead. I hope that’s ok.”

“It’s fine sis. I’m just a little upset since it’s been awhile since I’ve seen a green monkey, and I was so excited because I still miss Monkey, but then I remembered and…”

“It’s ok Gar. Sometimes we see things that remind us of home, and it can be bittersweet… You know, sometimes I see things that remind me of Mars, and it makes me remember the happy times with my sisters, and the occasional visit from Uncle J’onn, but it also reminds me of my family making me stay at home because they didn’t want the rest of our community knowing that I was really a white Martian, or how my youngest sister came home from school glaring at me, having learned about the supposed ‘crimes’ of white Martians and having become disgusted by what I was. It hurts, but I get through it, and so will you.” M’gann hugged Garfield tightly, wishing she could take the pain of losing his mother, the sanctuary, monkey, and almost his own life. Instead all she could do was try to comfort him.

“I know… I just wasn’t expecting it. I should have known being around so many animals like this would bring back memories.”

* * *

 

Eventually they finished their hot chocolate and made their way to the petting zoo, where Garfield laughed upon seeing a pig wearing fake antlers in the first pen, along with all the cheesy decorations.

“Oh my god, is that a sheep dressed as an elf?” Gar exclaimed, laughing at the sheep, which was in a pen with a few other sheep, all wearing similar costumes, fancy green elf shirts and hats.

“I know right, did you see the rabbit pen? It’s set up like one of those places in the mall that kids meet santa.” M’gann replied in between laughs, as the rabbit pen was decorated with a miniature gold colored chair with a red and white cushion on a raised area with a small red rug leading to it. There were also several boxes wrapped as presents, as well as a few plastic candy canes.

“Oh hey, look, a reindeer!” There in the largest pen was a pair of reindeer, both wearing reins with bells on them, outside the pen was a large red sleigh, with a bag of presents in the back and a man dressed as santa in the front taking photos with kids. As they got closer they saw a sign by the sleigh saying that the toys in the back of the sleigh were for a toy drive and being donated to the metropolis children’s hospital.

M’gann noticed a table selling toys and souvenirs. “Hey, want to buy something we can donate to the children’s hospital?” She motioned to the sleigh. Garfield grinned in response and answered “Sure sis, how about that elephant. It’s wearing the super symbol on it. Actually,” he laughed “That’d make a pretty good gift for Conner, too.” At this M’gann giggle in agreement and bought two, putting one in a shopping bag for later, and the other in a box marked for donations.

One of the people working the table stopped them as they were walking away. “Miss? If you would like, each donation gets you a free photo with Santa, if you would like it. I know the two of you are probably too old, but I’m guessing your parents would get a kick out of seeing their kids with Santa.” Here they exchanged a glance and laughed.

“Actually we um, live with our uncle, but I’m sure he’d love a photo, besides, we don’t have a lot of family photos.” M’gann answered carefully, watching as the man who asked grimaced is embarrassment.

“Sorry if that brought up any hard feelings, I just realized you two were siblings since you look alike and he called you sis, and I know how happy my parents would be if I gave them a photo of me and my little sister with Santa, even though she’s in her first year of high school and wouldn’t want to take that photo.” The man laughed an added “I’m Jimmy Olsen, you might know me as the daily planet photographer, actually now that I think about it, you both look familiar, have we met before?”

At this both siblings burst out laughing “Wait, you’re Jimmy Olsen?” M’gann started “We met you in Qurac 5 years ago.” Garfield finished (see Young Justice comic #20)

“Qurac 5 years ago… that’s got to be… The impeachment hearings! You must be Marie Logan’s kids! What’re you doing stateside?” Jimmy exclaimed excitedly.

“Oh, um. Our mom died in an accident, so we had to move to the states permanently to live with our Uncle. We’re visiting a friend here in metropolis. And decided to visit the zoo.” Garfield Answered

“Too bad, I thought I heard something in the news a while back about her death, but we were so busy at the daily planet at the time we didn’t get to cover it. I had wondered what happened to you two.”

“We’re ok now… mostly what hurts is neither of us really got a chance to say goodbye, there was an accident and well, Gar is the one that found her. I got the first plane back to Qurac when I heard.” M’gann said as she looked at Garfield, who looked a little downtrodden at the mention of his mother.

“That’s too bad. I’ll tell Clark I saw you two today, I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear you’re doing ok after what happened to your mom. How’s your boyfriend doing? The one that visited Qurac with you?” Jimmy asked

“Conner’s good, actually he’s attending college in Rhode Island.” M’gann said. “That’s who you said that elephant’s for, right? I’m guessing you two are still close if you’re buying him a present. He into Superman or something?” Jimmy looked thoughtful as he said it.

“Or something… can we get that photo now?” Garfield asked, causing Jimmy to laugh “of course, right this way!”

A few minutes later they were walking away with 3 photos of M’gann and Gar posing in the sleigh on opposite sides of Santa, one for each of them, and one for “their” uncle. (Although M’gann had a sneaking suspicion that Conner would probably enjoy it more than J’onn would, especially now that the two of them had reconciled.)

“Hey sis”

  
“Yeah Gar?”

  
“I never did get those Tiger photos for Billy, did I?”

  
“No, no you did not.”

  
“Race you to the tiger exhibit?”

  
“You’re on!”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this. 
> 
> Also, if anyone is wondering, I have absolutely no clue where that angst about the green monkeys came from. One minute I'm trying to write about Garfield being excited about seeing an animal he's familiar with, the next second I'm looking up the young justice episode image and discovering that "Monkey" is a green monkey, and remembering about Beast boy's origin in the comics and suddenly I wanted to incorporate that... 
> 
> I didn't plan on including Jimmy Olsen, but as I was writing the M'gann's conversation with the man at the table I decided I wanted to make him a character from the comics and the first person I thought of was Jimmy Olsen, so I looked it up, and he met Gar and M'gann in issue 20 of the Young Justice tie in which had a flashback (on December 1, 2010) of him accompanied Clark Kent on an assignment for the daily planet in Qurac and stopped by the Logan animal sanctuary while Miss M and Conner were visiting. Marie Logan introduces M'gann to Clark and Jimmy as her daughter who is attending school in the US. (I'd highly recommend reading this comic, it’s really fun to see Clark pretending he doesn’t know who they are.)


End file.
